Humanitarian actors and practices

Réfugiés en Tanzanie Louise Annaud Cahier

Food aid and the politics of numbers in Ethiopia

05/15/2008 François Enten

This study sheds light on the mechanisms producing the official data used by humanitarian aid decision makers. It views Early Warning Systems (EWS) as tools that facilitate consensus between the decision-makers involved in the allocation of food aid, enabling them to reach institutional agreements. 

 

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MSF distribue du matériel en Afghanistan Tim Dirven Cahier

MSF and protection: pending or closed?

04/01/2008 Judith Soussan

To embark upon a study of this theme is to enter a field strewn with contradictory representations linked to a highly sensitive issue – the limits of our responsibility – that has generated endless disagreements and debates on our “identity” and the existence or nonexistence of a role for MSF “beyond care”. 

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Un camp de réfugiés à Yida Yann Libessart Cahier

Humanitarian action in situations of occupation

01/01/2007 Xavier Crombé

This Cahier du CRASH by Xavier Crombé combines a study of the experience and positions of MSF vis-à-vis occupation contexts since the 1980s, and the minutes of a talk organised by the 'Fondation MSF' in January 2006 on "Humanitarian action in situations of occupation". 

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A group of refugees move on as they are told they can cross the border. Borja Ruiz Rodriguez Opinion

Codes of conduct: whose interests do they serve?

01/01/2003 Fiona Terry

As the USA announces its decision to suspend food aid to North Korea - one of the largest beneficiaries of global food aid - Fiona Terry reveals the true political issues behind the decision, and reminds us of how "humanitarian" assistance is used to bolster one of the planet's most oppressive regimes. 

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MSF doctor in a west Kabul maternity Amador Gullar Opinion

Humanitarian action victim of its own success

01/01/2003 Fiona Terry

The international aid regime tends to exaggerate changes over the last decade in the nature of so-called humanitarian crises. Neither violence perpetrated against civilian populations nor the dilemmas posed to aid organisations attempting to assist them have worsened since the end of the Cold War. 

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visuel civillians under fire Book

Civilians Under Fire

10/01/2001 Marc Le Pape Pierre Salignon

In the face of violence, how does a medical relief organization react and respond? This book is an account of one experience; it describes and analyzes the characteristics of one intervention: that of Médecins Sans Frontières in Congo Brazzaville in 1998-2000. 

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Des travailleurs préparent des kits pour les équipes de vaccination Olivier Asselin Opinion

Kit Culture

05/25/2009 Jean-Hervé Jézéquel

Analyzing the same event from different perspectives is a favourite trick of historians to spice up their narratives. It also works pretty well to describe humanitarian interventions.

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